Who really cares about the Freeway Series?

June 21, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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The Angels and Dodgers get together again for three games in Anaheim this weekend, starting Friday night. The Angels own a 52-37 record in the series, including 28-15 at the Big A. Click on the photo to read more about the rivalry, now and then. PHOTO BY JAE C. HONG, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Mark Trumbo hit a 451-foot solo home run in the Angels' 6-0 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night. The Angels have won eight of their past nine series and have won nine of 12 games overall since a series loss to the Mariners June 4-6. PHOTO BY MICHAEL GOULDING, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE REGISTER

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Every game of the series at Dodger Stadium was a nail-biter: In the first game, Mike Trout drew a walk in the ninth and came home on Albert Pujols' single as the Angels won 3-2. PHOTO BY REED SAXON, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The second game, on June 12, was an odd one: A close call at second helped extend the eighth inning for the Dodgers, who tied it at 2-2 on Andre Ethier's hit. Then they won it 5-2 on Juan Rivera's three-run homer. PHOTO BY REED SAXON, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Erick Aybar gets a big ol' bear hug from his pal Pujols after Aybar's stunning solo shot in the eighth inning of game 3 won it for the Angels, 2-1. LAA is now 24-22 all-time in the Freeway Series at Dodger Stadium. PHOTO BY MARK J. TERRILL, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Fireworks! That's what's on tap after Friday night's game -- and every Friday night. PHOTO BY KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Who has the better fans? Here are Christina Lugo and Todd Owens arriving at the Big A for the Dodgers-Angels game on June 23, 2010. PHOTO BY ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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This fan, Ron Cervenka, shows up early for BP at Chavez Ravine before a game on May 7 of this year. He said he's been a fan since 1953 (as his jersey clearly attests), and that he's been going to games since 1958, four years before Dodger Stadium opened and the team played at the Coliseum. But don't let all that tradition fool you: The Dodgers have been in L.A. only since 1958, making them just three years older than the upstart Angels. PHOTO BY REED SAXON, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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For the first few years of their existence, the Angels and Dodgers were more friendly neighbors than rivals. The Dodgers of the National League moved from Brooklyn after the 1957 season, and the Los Angeles Angels joined the American League as an expansion team for the 1961 season. Then, in 1962, the teams became roomies when Dodger Stadium opened. This photo is from Feb. 28, 1962, as workers rushed to complete the stadium in time for opening day on April 10. AP PHOTO, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Angels packed their bags and moved to Anaheim in 1966, changing their name to the California Angels. The Dodgers had their city back. AP PHOTO, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Angels and Dodgers met for the first time in 1962 during spring training in Florida, and in 1963 the tradition of playing each other in exhibitions in Southern California began. This was decades before it occurred to Major League Baseball that fans might want to see teams from the opposing leagues play each other in games that mattered. The exhibitions were far from meaningless, however:

Here's Angels legend Rod Carew right before he was ejected by the home-plate empire in a game April 2, 1979 at the Big A. Carew was upset after striking out, and he's restrained by Don Baylor. Carew had yet to even play a regular-season game for the Angels, having signed with the team in the offseason after 12 years with the Minnesota Twins. The Angels won the game, 7-4, to take two of three in the Freeway Series. PHOTO BY WALLY FONG, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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When interleague play was implemented for the 1997 season, it meant the Angels and Dodgers would meet for the first time in their histories in the regular season. That meeting happened on June 17, 1997 Here's Brett Dingman and his 2-year-old son Michael from Camarillo attending a game the next day. PHOTO BY KEVORK DJANSEZIAN, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Angels lost all four of the meetings with the Dodgers that inaugural season, including the two in Anaheim. This photo is from July 2 at the Big A, when the benches emptied after Anaheim's Tony Phillips took issue with an inside pitch from ... you guessed it, Chan Ho Park. PHOTO BY MARK J. TERRILL, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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This is from the game on June 5, 1999. It was the second meeting between the teams that season, and Dodgers pitcher Chano Ho Park dropped down a sacrifice bunt in the fifth inning, with the Dodgers down 4-0. Angels starter Tim Belcher (right) tagged Park hard, and Park responded by delivering a flying kick to Belcher's midsection. The Dodgers went on to win 7-4. PHOTO BY REED SAXON, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The oddest game in the rivalry came June 28, 2008, when Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo held the Dodgers without a hit, and L.A. still won 1-0. Matt Kemp led off the fifth by reaching on an error, then stole second and took third on another error. A sac fly by Blake DeWitt scored the decisive run for the Dodgers. PHOTO BY CHRIS CARLSON, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Angels took the Freeway Series in 2011, winning four of the six games. In this one, the Dodgers' Dee Gordon steals home during the seventh inning on July 1. The Dodgers won 5-0 in front of 41,253 fans at the Big A. PHOTO BY MARK J. TERRILL, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The Angels and Dodgers get together again for three games in Anaheim this weekend, starting Friday night. The Angels own a 52-37 record in the series, including 28-15 at the Big A. Click on the photo to read more about the rivalry, now and then. PHOTO BY JAE C. HONG, AP, TEXT BY LANDON HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ANAHEIM – The Angels have owned the Freeway Series, winning 52 of the 89 games against the Dodgers since the American and National leagues began their grand experiment in comingling during the 1997 season.

The three games at Dodger Stadium earlier this month were all agonizingly close, with the Angels' two victories coming by a run each.

Fans all over Southern California are deeply into this rivalry, which resumes Friday night at Angel Stadium with the first of three games between the teams. The Dodgers (42-28) still have the best record in the National League, even though they lost to Oakland on Thursday. The Angels are surging after an anemic start, going 20-7 since May 22 to move a season-high six games over .500 (38-32). You'd think the Angels would have the bit their teeth to beat the guys from the North.

Isringhausen, 39, pitched in two Subway Series against the Yankees, when he was with the Mets – in 1999 and again in 2011. That one's a little more intense, he acknowledges. "For the fans, yeah. It's just nuts. Because they bus (the players) from park to park, you get police escorts. You get flipped off. It's a little different in New York than it is in L.A.

"I wasn't here for the whole changing of the name from Anaheim to Los Angeles, and I know there was a big stink about that. But for myself, no. You play the Dodgers twice, and that's all there is to it."

Garrett Anderson, an Angels regular from 1995 through 2008, played in several Freeway Series games, including the first-ever regular-season meeting between the teams, on June 17, 1997 at Dodger Stadium. He had a double and two RBI that day, but the Dodgers scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to win 4-3. Now that's a game.

And yet, of the rivalry, Anderson said: "I never talked about, 'We're playing the Dodgers today.' The only common thing you have is that they're (the cities) 20-30 miles apart. There wasn't anything else other than that. I just happen to know a lot of guys on the other team over the years, but it was never a big deal at all, no. It was one game of 162, that's all it was to me.

"It's for the fans. That's why it's still here. The players don't really think too much about it. If it's favorable with the people who are paying, you keep it in. It's simple."

To fans, it is indeed simple: You root for the Angels or the Dodgers, and hate it when the bad guys win. Dodgers faithful have been doing a lot of hating in the last few years. The last time the Dodgers won a three-game series in the rivalry was 2009, when they took two of three at the Big A between June 19-21.

To make themselves feel better, some Dodgers fans point out that their team remains the more established franchise, with five World Series titles since moving from Brooklyn before the 1958 season. The Angels are only three years younger, having entered the AL as an expansion team in 1961, but they're still seen as the upstart kids in the neighborhood, with the lone title coming in 2002.

After the series in L.A. June 11-13, Dodgers fan Christina Fallon tweeted: " ... poor delusional #Angels fans thinking your actual rival is the @Dodgers...great win, but in no way would we ever consider U competition."

Travis Brody, who's VP of business development at Sports 1 Marketing, Warren Moon's Irvine-based company, tweeted: "What is it called again when one side dominates a rivalry? Oh that's right, it's called #Angels vs #Dodgers."

"The great thing about it is, every Dodgers fan has friends who are Angels fans," and vice-versa, Brody said by phone. "That series could have gone either way. People personalize it so much, so there's a range of emotions – frustration, happiness, everything."

Interleague play also began just when the Angels were beginning their era of competitiveness – the second half of the 1990s. So some younger fans have grown up with the Dodgers and Angels playing each other. Even if it's only six meetings a year, that's good enough for a rivalry for them.

While veteran players might view the series as old hat, younger players tend to see it a little differently. The games in L.A. gave them a glimpse of what playoff baseball must feel like.

"The fans there at Dodger Stadium ... that's probably the loudest I've heard a stadium so far, besides Texas," said Angels rookie Mike Trout, 20. Although the Big A doesn't have near the seating capacity of Dodger Stadium, the Angels need their fans to be just as enthusiastic this weekend, he said. "It just pumps us up a little bit when you have that crowd behind you. It gives you a little more energy."

Mark Trumbo, 26, graduated from Villa Park High School and rooted for the Angels growing up, although he also went to games at Dodger Stadium. "Bragging rights are at stake," he said.

Garrett Richards, 23, was born in Riverside and split his loyalty between the Angels and Padres. He's young enough to remember what it's like for a fan to want something so badly.

"The fans really make the rivalry what it is," he said. "Dodger fans are crazy, and we have our fans, and you put them together, that's what you get – a crazy atmosphere."

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